This invention relates to a drum brake assembly.
Drum brakes have been manufactured for many years, and normally include arcuate primary and secondary brake shoes which are similar in appearance to one another, but are designed to function differently. In many brake designs, each of the primary and secondary brake shoes will fit in the position normally occupied by the other shoe by merely turning the brake shoe over. However, because of the difference in design, in this manner the effectiveness of the brake may be substantially reduced if the brake shoes are not installed correctly. It is also common practice to provide resilient hold-down springs to attach the brake shoes to the fixed support.
Therefore, one of the principle objects of my invention is to design a brake shoe and hold-down spring associated therewith such that the hold-down spring cannot be installed upon the fixed support unless the brake shoes are installed in their proper positions.
Another important object of my invention is to provide a projection or detent on one side of the web of the brake shoe, so that when the brake shoes are installed correctly, the detent faces the fixed support, and when the brake shoes are installed incorrectly, the projection engages the coiled portion of the hold-down spring thereby holding it away from the brake shoe and the fixed support.